Let's Try That Art Star Reality Concept Here

he’s just a couple of minutes into his own 15 of fame, as a judge on the show; a curator for a smart, scholarly, just-opened exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery bookstore; and the owner of Half Gallery, a fledgling but buzzy Lower East Side space. He co-owns it with infamous author James Frey and Kate Spade CEO Andy Spade; its celebrity-packed openings make the gossip columns as much as they do the art magazines. When Work of Art premieres in June, Mr. Powers will become a TV personality himself and one of the medium’s few faces of the art world. The bearded, bright-eyed West Village dad is gifted with scraggly hair, an inventive wardrobe and a giddy enthusiasm about art. TV will love him for it.

[…] The program will bring together 14 aspiring artists to compete for a solo show at a “nationally recognized museum,” according to Bravo, plus a cash prize. They’ll vie in painting, sculpture and performance art, all under the zesty, watchful tutelage of co-host and well-known art auctioneer Simon de Pury, chairman of Phillips de Pury. (He, early in the season, mutters the memorable phrase: “Well, the vibrator changes everything.”) The reality show premieres in June, but art-world guests are invited to a screening April 7 at the Paley Center. In attendance will be executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker, Mr. de Pury and the judges. Joining Mr. Powers on the panel are Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, owner of the Salon 94 Galleries both uptown and downtown, and Jerry Saltz, current art critic for New York magazine.